Raging Sea is the second book in Michael Buckley’s Undertow series, and it somehow manages to raise the stakes and the action to an unprecedented level.
Most of Lyric Walker’s friends and family were taken from her by the end of book one, Undertow. In Raging Sea, she must find where they’re being held and free them before it’s too late.
Joined by Bex and Arcade, Lyric’s mission seems straightforward, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Who can she trust and who will she be forced to work with in order to get her people back? Her closest allies have ulterior motives and her most dangerous adversaries can talk a good game.
But if she can free her friends and family, what’s next? Led by the insane king, the enemy Alpha outnumber them by millions, and they’ve got their own allies, some of which will send even the likes of Arcade ducking for cover.
‘Raging Sea’ book review
Lyric Walker goes through a bit of an identity crisis in this novel. When she was younger, she was a wild thing, free to be who she was and do what she wanted to do. When the Alpha came, she was forced to hide inside of herself, to go unnoticed, to be no one. But now she is someone: She is half-Alpha and she needs to save her people. She must now be a giant, a torrent, a hurricane.
She is being pushed and pulled in every direction, and so it’s no wonder that Lyric has a little trouble figuring out who she should be. Is she human? Is she Alpha? Which part of her should make the decisions and which part should bow to the other? As a result of these warring halves, Lyric doesn’t always make the best decisions. It’s hard to see her butting heads with her best friend, other Alpha, and those she manages to rescue from the government, but she has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and bearing that burden does not allow you the luxury of making friends.
If Undertow was a maelstrom of war, then Raging Sea is a supercell of destruction. Whole cities are ravaged, thousands killed in mere seconds, and creatures rise from the sea that have never been seen before. A good portion of the book takes place away from these incidents, but the final chapters bring Lyric back into the action, and the devastation is so great, it will be a wonder they’ll ever find the energy to pick up the pieces.
Part road-trip, part prison break, part blazing battleground, Raging Sea finds time to slow the narrative down long enough to see Lyric utterly broken, and then build her back up again just before her world comes crashing down in relentless waves of carnage.
And that ending? It’ll leave you gasping for more.
Raging Sea by Michael Buckley is available now. Add it to your Goodreads list or purchase it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Indiebound.
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